Blackstone Inks Review

When Kevin Wharton of Just Write contacted me to test these, I was intrigued. I have very fond memories of my travels around Australia back in the 1990’s. Big big blue skies, turquoise seas, red dirt, termite hills and green gum trees. The colours were extremely vibrant and I haven’t forgotten!

First impressions are good. The ink is thick, no nonsense, flows well and dries quickly. Sample of writing at foot of page. There are five colours available in the Colours of Australia range plus an ‘every day’ blue and black. They make these inks in Australia and were released for sale in October 2015. So what can they do?

Harbour Blue – this is a deep moody green blue and mixes with water readily washing out deep green blues and turquoises. Doesn’t react too well with bleach but I put this down to the thickness of the ink. It’s got that sea colour quality. As a writing ink is dark blue green in colour.

Stump Black – this is the black of the range and mixes with water readily washing out in gradations of greys. There is a hint of brown in there too. Doesn’t react too well with bleach but I put this down to the thickness of the ink but turn a gold in parts. As a writing ink is solid black in colour.

Reef Blue – this is the blue of the range and mixes with water readily washing out bright blues and turquoises. Reacts well with bleach in the thinner areas and turns a bright neon white. It’s got that gorgeous sea/sky colour quality. As a writing ink is dark blue in colour.

Daintree Green – a deep thick green that mixes with water readily washing out yellowy greens with turquoises at the edges. Doesn’t react too well with bleach but I put this down to the thickness of the ink. As a writing ink is an uneven green in colour.

Uluru Red – this is thick red that mixes with water readily washing out pinky reds. Reacts well with bleach in the thinner areas and turns a bright neon white gold. As a writing ink is a reddy brown in colour.

From a sentimental point of view I adore these. The painting of the roo on the beach was a very quick watercolour – using all 5 of the colours – that hopefully demonstrates that they are dynamic and reflect the colours of the Ozzie landscape – as claimed. However, the red is not quite there for me. Kevin, if you read this, I took your red and mixed it with a little De Atramentis Orange/Yellow to achieve the colour that is the Uluru red dirt I remember. See middle swatch below. So if you are going to expand the range, a yellow would be good.

As already stated these are thick rich inks and when thinned with water are superb for painting. They mix together well and the vials that I have been given will last a while.

Nick Stewart

I create art using fountain pen inks and bleach. My techniques epitomise the whole ethos of ‘less is more’ and demonstrate how much one can achieve using very little. It is also a medium that is very much serendipity led and the beauty of the final outcomes are often dictated by this.

3Comments

These are becoming favorites already and I have only had them about two weeks. I don’t use a lot of black and have probably 100 ml or more of other blacks, so I passed on the Stump Black for now. But I did get the other four. I have Barrier Reef Blue in a Noodler’s Konrad with a B nib from Goulet Pens, the Uluru Red in a TWSBI 580 with a custom ground B stub, the Daintree Green in a TWSBI Eco with 1.1 stub and Sydney Harbour Blue in a Waterman Phileas with medium nib. Every one of them has its own unique qualities unlike any other red, green, blue or blue black I own. (I do consider the Sydney Harbour Blue almost a blue black)

[…] these are a MUST HAVE for any serious Ink Geek! Many thanks Claudia! Also of note was the launch of Blackstone Inks also from Australia. And more recently, it was great to hook up with Phil Davies at Diamine and […]